The present invention is directed toward the administration of a pyridylguanidine compound, preferably, N-cyano-N'(1,1-dimethyl propyl)-N"-3-pyridinyl guanidine, in low doses to the corpus cavernosum of the penis to cause or enhance an erection.
Impotency is a recognized clinical problem which affects approximately ten million men in the United States alone. This condition is due to neurological, vascular, endocrine or psychogenic pathologies that prevent an erectile response. Normally, erection involves a complex and incompletely understood mechanism by which neural stimuli induces relaxation of the penile arteries and sinusoids causing pooling of blood in the corpus cavernosum, subsequent compression of venous drainage increases the pooling of blood in the cavernosum.
Recently, the study of urology has recognized that male impotency or erectile dysfunction can be treated with medication in appropriate circumstances where the dysfunction is physiological. In such situations, an erection may be induced or enhanced by the administration of a vasodilator in the immediate vicinity of the corpus cavernosum. This treatment was reported in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,118 as a method for alleviating and treating male impotence by injecting into the penis an effective amount of vasodilator, a sympathomimetic amine or an andronergic blocking agent.
Since this time, numerous articles have been authored which describe the effects of vasodilators or antihypertensives to treat erectile dysfunction. Various drugs known to be useful for injection therapy are papaverine, which dilates blood vessels and is sometimes combined with phentolamine as a reinforcing effect; and prostaglandin E.sub.1. A small, insulin-type syringe is used to inject the drug directly into the tissue of the penis. The basic action of the drug is to dilate blood vessels in the penis allowing them to fill with blood.
While the use of some drugs are known, the search for faster acting or more effective drugs are constantly being sought. Better drugs are sought to minimize injection dosages or avoid injection and, instead, provide a topical treatment.